FAQ's

Web and Ordering FAQ

Prefinished is a term used by the flooring and construction industry to describe products that do not need to be stained to a color or coated with some form of polyurethane before installation.
"Prefinished" is the antonym of "unfinished." With unfinished products a stain may be needed to change the color of the wood. Then a sealer will need to be applied and finally 1-3 topcoats of a finish will need to be applied.

Sure, our website will save any order that you create while logged in. When you return to stair-treads.com, simply log in with your user name and password, click the radio button next to the "Saved Order" option, and then click "Reset my Cart" to restore all of your previously added items back in your shopping cart. Remember, it's always a good idea to double check your shopping cart when checking out.

Our website uses cookies to save your order and our cookies expire after one hour, so in order to save your order you will need to register.

Absolutely, just place your order as usual and [Contact Us] with your order number and a date that you will be at your new home. We'll figure the transit time and ship your order as close to the required date as possible. That's one less thing you have to worry about moving.

You need a single or double turnout starter step. Luckily, we do offer prefinished starter steps in all the species found on this website. There are several dimensions that we will need from you, and therefore all starter steps are sold on a custom basis. We can send you a measurement sheet to help with the dimensions. [Contact Us] for more information.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover cards. You may also pay by check using our eCheck (electronic check) form. If you would like to pay by check, please [Contact Us] for the necessary forms.

Your credit card will NOT be charged until your order SHIPS. When you submit your order online, we will authorize your credit card and place a hold on the funds equal to the amount of your order. Depending on your bank, it may take up to five days for the transaction to show up on your statement. Once your order ships, we will e-mail you a tracking number and process the credit card at that time. If you would like to charge your order to a different credit card after placing your order, please contact us and we will be happy to help.

We give each order personalized attention to ensure that you receive the highest possible quality stair tread. During the two week production schedule, we are carefully cutting your lumber and gluing your staves, we then allow a couple of days to ensure that the glue bond will last a lifetime by performing quality checks. After your treads are physically produced, we apply our Diamond Coat and perform several more quality checks before boxing your products. We allow 2-3 extra "cushion days" in case a product was to actually fail any check. These extra "cushion days" give us enough time to remake any non- conforming product. In the end, the two weeks it takes us to make your prefinished treads are nothing compare to the lifetime of beauty that they will bring you.

We are the direct manufacturer of all of our stair treads and and other products. Since there is no middle man, we can keep our prices at wholesale levels and sell directly to the public. We also have very little overhead to cover. We have no retail showroom and virtually all of our staff is production oriented. Our advertising costs are minimal and all of these features translate into direct savings for you, the customer. We will never cut corners by selling substandard product or seconds. By stocking minimal product, this increases our inventory turns and keeps our inventory investment very low. This results in the two week production time and can be a bit frustrating but creates massive savings for you, the customer. Our goal is to create the maximum possible savings for you and deliver the most superior product in the marketplace today.

We use specially designed boxes that hold exactly fivestair treads. We found that by packing five stair treads in one box, shipping expenses can be cut by up to a third. Five treads of average length (42" - 48") makes the box not too heavy to handle (about 60lbs). If your treads are long (over 48"), we may pack fewer treads in one box because the package can become awkward. (awkward = shipping damage)

All of our products are sold and priced per piece. Landing tread, handrail, cove mould, and a few other profiles are sold by the foot. We package our stair treads according to a set of rules but we sell by the piece and you only need to order as many or as few as you require to complete your job.

We do not offer support stringers - these are most often fabricated on site from 2 x 12's. Sometimes skirt boards are referred to as stringers. Skirt board is the 3/4" x 10" piece of decorative wood that runs along the edge of a staircase and we do offer that. Contact us for a quote on skirt board.

If you are ordering samples, we generally ship those in 1-2 business days (often, we ship samples the same day). As far as delivery time for production orders, we ask for two weeks production time and depending on where the material will be delivered, it can take up to 5 days to deliver once shipped. Most areas deliver in 2-3 days once shipped. If you have time constraints that you are working under, we can often produce the order quicker - Contact Us and we'll be happy to see what we can do to expedite your order.

All of our stair treads are designed to be cut down to size on both length and depth. The only exception to this is on return treads where it is not convenient to cut the depth due to the attached return. If you have special requirements, let us know and we can arrange for the treads to be made at 10.5" instead of 11.5". If you have a table saw, we advise leaving the treads deeper just in case you need the extra depth on a step or two and cutting the difference on the table saw.

We can not cut the stair tread to a particular shape but we can offer a tread blank, which is a large stair tread (up to 36" deep) that can be cut on site to fit a particular application. This is most commonly used on triangular or pie stair tread. See Our Pie Step Article for more information on pie shaped stair treads.

Our Gunstock, Butterscotch and other colors are formulated to coordinate with most products from Bruce's hardwood flooring with the same color name. Some products will be darker and some are slightly lighter. We encourage you to order a sample to determine if our color matches your flooring prior to ordering.

It's not uncommon for existing treads to be slightly over a particular size (i.e. 42-1/8" or 37"). We guarantee each tread / riser / etc to be at least the dimension specified (42", 48", etc ) and you may or may not have some extra (at most expect no more than 1/2" extra). If in doubt, we recommend going with the next size up. The difference in price should be minimal and you'll be thankful you have the extra "wiggle room." Another thought to consider is most stairs are not square, i.e. the nose length may be longer or shorter than the length at the riser. If that is the case, you may actually need the longer length to cut the tread so it is a good fit. Remember single return treads include the 1-1/4" mitered return in the overall measurement (a 42" return tread is 42" overall with a 40-3/4" throat)

Yes, "Left" and "Right" are always relative as you walk up the staircase. If the return is on your left as you walk upstairs, you will need a left return. If the return is on your right as you walk up the staircase, you will need a right return.

Absolutely, if you have open stair treads where the balusters directly intersect the treads, you will need to shorten the balusters by 3/4". If the balusters do not directly intersect the treads, you will have no problem using the retro stair treads.

There is actually no difference between a closed and a box tread. We use both terms interchangeably. Both terms describe the same product style: meaning that each end of the tread has a wall (or kneewall) terminating the tread and thus will only have a bullnose along the front edge of the tread.

Unfortunately, we do not offer handscraped treads, we have found that there are some code issues with an "uneven" tread surface in some parts of the country and have opted to offer standard finishing on all of our prefinished stair treads. In our experience, we have not seen a dramatic difference between a handscraped floor and standard treads once installed. The difference in elevation between the floor and tread step helps ease the difference between the two different finishes.

Unfortunately, we only offer our products online and do not have any printed brochures. We try to keep the online listings as up to date as possible. And are constantly adding new products, sizes, and colors. If you have specific requests, please contact us.

Our experience has been that a wood step is no more slippery than a wood floor. That being said, if you wear particularly slippery stockings or socks, we recommend using extra caution when walking up or down wood stairs. Some customer opt to install a carpet runner over the stairs or carpet "stair treads" over their new wood stairs to help with this concern. These carpet stair treads can be found an many home furnishing and home goods stores.

Regarding triangle steps or pie steps, we can make oversized stair treads that can be cut on site to the proper dimension and shape in both Retro style and solid style. These treads will most often cover the pie step completely, but there are some limitations. The deepest (from tip of bullnose to tail of tread) we can make our oversized treads is 36". If you measure the depth at the deepest portion of the tread (perpendicular to the bullnose) and it is less than 36", we can make a Retro tread to cover that tread. The best option is to draw a quick sketch (so we know which side is which), we can do the math on this end to see what size tread you would need. Please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to assist.

Stair-Treads.com does offer a military discount on orders over $300. If you have served, or are currently serving in any branch of the military contact us in order to receive a coupon code for your next purchase at Stair-Treads.com

Absolutely - simply contact us and we'll look up your previous order and e-mail you a new coupon code. If you'd rather order over the phone, call us and we can look up your coupon code during the ordering process.

Shipping FAQ

Our standard shipping method is LTL (Less Than Truckload) through a various numbers of carriers. We have found that the level of service is much higher than parcel ( UPS / FedEx) and the damage rate is almost nonexistent. The drawback is that most of these carriers charge extra for liftgate service - this can be arranged for an extra fee.

LTL is another name for Less-Than-Truckload. Most people refer to this method as "drop shipping" or truck line shipping. Because an average order of our stair treads can weigh 250-400 pounds, it is not practical to ship with parcel carriers like UPS and FedEx because they are too expensive and have too high of damage rates for us to ship with them. With LTL, the shipping company with call at least 24 hours ahead of time to schedule a delivery appointment with you. The tractor trailer will then get as close to your home (or delivery address) as possible and bring your order to the tail of the truck for unloading..

You will receive an e-mail notification from us once your order ships that contains all of the tracking information for your order. You can also track your order online once it ships by logging into your account.

The longest time in transit is to the west coast. California, Washington, and Oregon can take up to 5 business days to deliver. There are a few other points scattered throughout the US that can take up to six days, but they are few and far between. LTL deliveries are slightly less if delivering to a business.

If the driver of the delivery truck (UPS, FedEx, LTL) is present and you have not signed for the material, make a note on the bill of lading "WITH EXCEPTION - DAMAGED GOODS" and then ACCEPT the delivery. Call or e-mail us as soon as possible (within 24 hours) so we can file a claim with the carrier and send you a replacement. The longer you wait to notify us, the harder it becomes to recover the costs and the longer it takes to complete your order. We will issue a call-tag for the damaged merchandise, so keep it handy. You may need to take the damaged product out of the damaged box and put it in the box from an undamaged tread. If the delivery truck is not present it will be extremely difficult for us to enter in a claim for the damage product. It is important to inspect you order while the truck diver is present. Call or e-mail us as soon as possible (again within 24 hours).

It's Friday afternoon and I've just noticed my shipping damage. You said call within 24 hours... No problem, call us Monday morning. Weekends and holidays are not counted. (maybe we should say 24 business hours?)

Absolutely; shipping to a business is almost always less expensive than shipping to a residence. Be sure to update your shipping information to the address you would like us to ship to by clicking the "Update Your Information" link after logging in with your username and password in the left navigation column. Then go ahead and place your order online. Call us at (866) 429-0979 or [Contact Us] with your invoice number and let us know that you would like to ship to a business. We can do a quick rate quote and, if you approve, set your order to LTL and then refund the difference to your credit / debit card.

Yes, but there are several Customs documents that require us to obtain some extra information. There are also extra charges associated with export shipments. Call us for more accurate information pertaining to your particular situation.

You can pick up your order at our warehouse after it is completed. Please contact us if you would like to choose a customer pickup option. The two week lead time still applies and we will be in contact when your order is ready for pickup.

While our standard discounted rates are some of the best in the nation, there are a couple different options we can employ to reduce shipping costs:

1) Deliver the shipment to a business address - commercial locations generally qualify for reduced shipping rates. When estimating shipping from the view shopping cart page, commercial rates are the same as the local terminal pickup option.

2) Pick up the shipment at a local terminal - by picking up the freight at the terminal instead of having it delivered to your home our carriers often quote discounted freight rates.

If you'd like to pick up your order at the local terminal, simply choose the local terminal pickup shipping method during checkout.

Product FAQ

Without going into great detail, the primary reason for stair tread failure is the construction process. We use a hot glue process opposed to cold glue on all of our exotic species. We hope to have an entire page devoted to explaining this process so check back for a link soon. In the meantime, call or e-mail us and we'll be happy to discuss it with you.

Our standard Diamond Coat II is a medium gloss and officially measures between 45-50 units on the gloss scale. In our experience, this level coincides with about 80-90% of most modern floorcovering products on the market today. In addition, this level has shown to hide minor scratches much better than higher gloss levels. Since the prefinished stair treads do not directly contact your floorcovering, there is a slightly greater margin for error if your new treads do not exactly match your new floor.

Our single return and our double return treads are shipped preassembled. We believe in saving you as much time as possible and we don't want you don't have to worry with gluing or assembling anything with our prefinished stair treads. Just open the box and install. We can sell loose returns if you would like, however.

The treads are solid wood but made of individual staves for stability - a solid plank would not only be very expensive but also prone to cupping and warping. Each of our staves will be reversed grain to minimize cupping and is the only proper way to make a true solid stair tread. On average, you should expect 3-4 staves per tread but that's not guaranteed. No stave shall be less than 2 1/4" nor wider than 4" in width.

Our standard stair treads are not recommended to be installed in a stand-alone free floating or "open rise" application. While they are structurally sound, a 1" thick tread will not meet code in most applications. We can make these thicker treads in many species (except Ipe, Cumaru, Sapele, and Santos - these species are too oily to face glue) and offer them on our thick stair treads page. On 1.5" and 2" treads, we do not bullnose the front edge - we apply a slight 1/8" roundover to all sides. For more information, see our article on thick stair treads.

Our lumber is kiln dried before it reaches us. The ends of the rough lumber may be split but we will cut that before the tread is assembled. You also have a warranty to guarantee lifetime structural integrity.

The specifications on each individual tread can be found on the product page. In general, our solid treads are 1" thick by 11.5" deep and sold in overall lengths every 6" beginning with 36". If you would like more specific information, please contact us.

Yes, our finish is compatible with most commercial floor finishing products if sanded well before you attempt a re-coat. While our Diamond Coat should give you years of enjoyment with proper maintenance, each tread is solid wood and can be sanded and finished many times over. (In fact, our treads are actually thicker than 3/4" flooring and can be finished many more times than your floor)

Installation FAQ

Our traditional 1" stair treads are designed to directly replace the existing treads that you have currently have installed. Some people choose to install them over the existing treads and it is possible but it requires the removal of any existing bullnose.
Our Retro Replacement stair treads are specifically designed to be installed over top of an existing stair tread.

Whether you install the riser or tread first depends on your particular installation technique. Both options can be correct as long as the same method is used throughout the installation process. With our Retro stair treads, we recommend installing the riser first.

We recommend cutting the treads with a miter saw. The most ideal saw for cutting the treads to length is a sliding miter saw with a 12" blade. This allows you to make one pass to cut the entire tread length. A table saw is best for cutting the the depth (front-to-back) of the stair tread.

Since the surface area of a stair tread is so small, there is minimal wood movement over the seasons unless there is a major moisture event, such as a flood, pipe break, pressure washing in the garage, etc. By reversing the grain on each stave in the stair tread, we are effectively able to minimize any movement that does occur and we do warranty the structure for the life of the tread. Our warranty is posted on the bottom of any page in our website. The bigger concern with movement is squeaks. You want each tread to be installed as tight as possible and secured with adhesive to eliminate step squeaks over the life of the tread.

As long as your saw blade is sharp, you should have no trouble cutting the prefinished stair tread. Be sure to cut slowly and cut with the finish side up to minimize tear-out and scratching from debris on the saw table. We recommend a 12" sliding miter saw so you can make one pass on your cut but you can technically use a smaller saw. All of our treads will require some degree of cutting to be sure that the angles of the old and new treads match. Remember to measure twice and cut once!

As a quick illustration we cut 6" samples in our shop from full sized stair treads and have no trouble with chipping the finish.